Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings

A financial calculator can be expensive for students. It is not intuitive to use and unless students become investment bankers or realtors, then most of them will never use it after completing a course in Finance or something similar. Fortunately, it's very easy to create a financial calculator for free if you have Excel on your computer. The Excel calculator can do much more than a real financial calculator.

Steps

1. 1 Install Microsoft Excel on your computer if you don't already have it.
2. 2 To make the learning process simple, click on the link at the bottom of this page to download a pre-built financial calculator (tip: use the Shift-Click keys to open it in a new window).
3. 3 It is assumed that you already have some knowledge of 5 parameters that are often used in finance: FV (future value), PV (present value), Rate, Nper (number of periods) and PMT (payment). The task of this calculator (for any 4 of these parameters) is to calculate the fifth parameter.
4. 4 Try the example of creating a calculator to calculate the future value of FV. Suppose you want to display the FV result in cell B17. Enter rate in B12, number of periods in B13, payment in B14, present value in B15 and B16 for Type. In Excel, Type is 0 or 1. Type 0 if payments are expected at the beginning of the period. Type 1 - if payments are expected at the end of the period. See the example of the calculator you just opened in step 1.
5. 5 To create your own financial calculator in Excel, open a new file or Sheet and enter the Rate, Nper, PMT, PV and Type fields. Add example values. Select the cell where you want to place the result for FV. Click Insert ==> Function (or the button f_x on the formula bar) to open the Insert Function window. Select the "Financial" category in the left column. All functions that are used in financial calculations will be listed.
6. 6 Double click FV. The Function Arguments window opens. Fill in the fields with numbers according to how you labeled them. If you want, you can, while in this window, click the help button (?) And read the detailed information on how this Excel function works.
7. 7 Click OK. Congratulations - your financial calculator for FV has been created. If you fill in the values ​​for Rate, Nper, PMT, and PV, then cell B17 displays the FV value.
8. 8 Continue in the same way to create a Rate calculator, NPER calculator, and so on. When done, you will have a very intuitive financial calculator. This will help you learn finance better than buying a fancy financial calculator. Good luck!

Tips

• You can also create Excel calculators to perform financial calculations for uneven payments. The sample calculator has examples of some additional functions. Your instructor may be surprised at how quickly you can complete these calculations.
• You can protect fields with built formulas so that you do not accidentally delete them. To protect a field, press the selected cell, then right-click and select Format Cells. On the Protection tab, select the Locked check box.
• Enter the money paid as loan payments in negative numbers.Enter the money received as a percentage of the dividend in positive numbers.

Warnings

• You may not have access to Excel during the test or quiz. If you are in class, find out in advance if you need a financial calculator for your tests and see if you can borrow one from a friend. Learn how to use it in advance.
• When using this calculator, make sure your units are consistent. That is, if you use months for periods, then check that you also apply the monthly interest rate. To get the monthly interest rate, divide the annual interest rate by 12.